Presentation at the National Military Spouse Employment Summit to a great gathering of military spouses already doing a very hard job while they promote themselves in their careers.

1. Leveraging the
Internet and Social
Media for Your Job
Search
Kathleen Smith
ClearedJobs.Net
National Military Spouse
Employment Summit

2. My typical audience

3. But you are already a
very social media
savvy community!
What could I possibly
share with you?

4. Maybe just a new
way of looking at
things

5. Ways to leverage social
media and your use of the
internet…
Promoting yourself for
a new job.
Advertising your
business.
Finding a full time,
part time or contract
job.
Researching volunteer
opportunities.

6. Being “available” for your
different communities …..
Are you available in the ways
that your customer wants to
reach you?
It’s great that you are part of
XYZ community but if the
person who is looking for you
is in ABC community, how will
you connect?
Email address – not a time to
advertise your interests.
Cell phone – not the time to
share insights into your world.
Be a connector, not a stalker.

7. Doing the SWOT on
the Brand of You….
Strengths……
Skills, abilities, clearance, SME
Work style
Network
Weaknesses…..
Do you need more .edu or certs?
Holes in your network?
Opportunities…
Learning new skills
Ability to move
Threats……
Does your brand need an overhaul?
Limited skill set?

8. Career sites for research
finding open positions

9. Your
“relationship”
with a Career
Site…..
Searching for positions
to see what is out there.
Registering for the site
by setting up a profile.
Registering a la carte
services such as
newsletters or job fairs.

10. Career Sites
Career Sites can be as generic
as Monster or as niche as
ClearedJobs.Net
Career Sites’ revenue comes
from advertising job postings,
resume database licenses and
other services that are charged
to employers – not Job Seekers
Start wide with your search to
understand who is hiring, where
they are hiring and what kind of
positions match your skill set
Finding the job descriptions with
the “keywords” to put in your
resume

11. Why set up an
account on a
Career Site?
Apply for jobs on the site
rather than uploading your
resume from your desktop
Ability to manage your job
applications and position
searches
You can develop “Job
Agents” which search job
postings for you “24/7”
You can see how often
your resume is viewed by
recruiters – why is this
important?
Remember to refresh your
resume every 30 days

12. Job boards all have the same
basic functionality: setting up a
profile, researching job
postings, applying for jobs and
statistics.
Some job postings will take you
to another site for applying for
the job so that this can be linked
to an ATS.

13. Where else should I register? Your “Favorite”
Company Website
Set up a profile on a company career site as this is first place a
company recruiter will look
OFCCP – (Hint : it’s not a rap song)
Other key information such as benefits and reviewing the overall
corporate culture

14. Becoming an online
Contractor
You are a “contractor” not an
employee, paid by project not by the
hour.
Most contractors have their own
business – graphic designer, writer,
computer programmer.
Set up your own portfolio and your
own site such using
www.weebly.com.
Most sites will ask you to take tests
to see your qualifications.
(Competitive and filled with scams)
www.freelanced.com
www. Guru.com
www.elance.com
www.ODesk.com
Helpful videos on YouTube such
as “Are You Bidding On The
Wrong Elance, Vworker, and
Odesk Projects?”

15. What is the top
way to find a
job?
Networking

16. Social Media Used for
Recruiting
Social recruiting has been around
forever, it just moved online in the
last 10 years.
But, not everyone is using it.
The challenge is knowing who is
and who isn’t, which you won’t
know.
It is one aspect of marketing “You”:
Are you using social media for
“social” or career development?
Remember that your customers
might be on different communication
channels.
What do your profiles say about
you?
Do you have the settings updated?
Are you sharing too much or the
wrong thing?

17. Employers will use social media to
screen potential hires.
Source: Recruiting Toolbox 2011 Survey of 300 employers

18. microblogging
and job searching on
twitter

19. Ways to Use Twitter to
support your career
search and
development
In your profile “bio” include your
skills and information recruiters
to search
Follow companies that you are
interested in and/or their job
posting feed
Follow and connect with
individual and company
recruiters (their Twitter handles
will be on their LinkedIn profiles)
Subject Matter Expert’s (SME)
in the industry or community
you want to work
Setting up a search string
“military spouse jobs”

20. Connecting with employer
communities
Search string for “military
spouse jobs” to find positions
and accounts to follow

21. social communication
for added reach and
networking

22. You never know who might
be able to help your job
search.

23. Ways to Use Facebook to
support your career
search and development
Active user of Facebook?
Be sure to set up the lists of people
you share information with between
your close BFFs and the general
public;
Fill out your profile similar to your
resume if you are in an active
search
Not on Facebook?
Set up a minimum profile to be able
to communicate and be found
“Like” companies, organizations,
government agencies
Be part of key trade association
groups in the industry

26. professional networking
and job searching on
linkedin

27. LinkedIn --
Three
Degrees of
Separation

28. Ways to Use LinkedIn
to support your career
search and
development
Creating your Profile
properly which means:
Picture & Summary
List accomplishments
Blog, twitter, website
Update at least monthly,
more so if in an active
search
Status Updates – 2-3 times a
week
Your Network – 500+

29. LinkedIn
The “business” social
networking community
Used by recruiters to
search and connect with
candidates
The social community
most geared toward job
search – it is a job board

30. Setting Up Your
Profile
Step by step instructions
that walk you through
setting up your Profile
You can also import your
resume to help set up your
Profile
The system will prompt you
to fill out as much as
possible for your Profile to
be complete

31. LinkedIn will help you build your network.

32. Building Your
Network
LinkedIn will recommend
people for you to connect
with that are within one
degree of separation to
you
Only connect with people
you know, or share a
Group with
Standard template
invitation should be
customized
Always thank someone
for a connection
You will get flagged if you
try to connect with people
you do not know

33. Find company info and
make connections

36. LinkedIn Groups

37. Military LinkedIn Groups
In searching the Groups
Directory there are 18 groups
for military spouses and 23
military employers but this is
just the beginning.
Job postings and connecting
with recruiters and other
business owners will be part of
promoting yourself.

38. Entrepreneurial and can do
spirit
List all volunteer work on
resumes and profiles
Note station assignments on
resume to explain gaps in
resume and list that you are a
military spouse
Familiarity with military
jargon, culture and can work
on base

39. "You can make more
friends in two months by
becoming interested in
other people than you
can in two years by trying
to get other people
interested in you.“
Dale Carnegie, How to Win
Friends and Influence People

40. Thank
you!